Researchers from the University of Arizona has built a pair of robotic legs that mimics our own. While bipedal movement is nothing new in robotics — Honda has had a free-walking robot for some time now — the research team describes its creation as “biologically accurate.” It developed a simplified software equivalent of a central pattern generator (CPG), the neural network in our spinal cords that enables us to walk without thinking about it. The legs themselves are constructed from 3D-printed plastic, and our tendons and muscles are emulated by a series of Kevlar straps pulled by motors.
Robot legs accurately mimic human movement
Scientists have built a pair of robotic legs that mimic our own by using a computational equivalent of the central pattern generator found in our nervous system.
Scientists have built a pair of robotic legs that mimic our own by using a computational equivalent of the central pattern generator found in our nervous system.
While walking, the CPG receives environmental data from force sensors that enable it to accurately perceive the legs’ position and under-foot conditions. The CPG then allows for tiny on-the-fly adjustments to be made. This top-down control system stabilizes the legs in a way not possible with traditional, reflex-based feedback. While biologically accurate, the legs can only walk while tethered to a cart that the research paper likens to a baby walker. The team says the simplified CPG it developed is perhaps akin to that of a toddler, theorizing that we develop a more complex CPG with age.
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
